US–México border states and the US military–industrial complex

A Global Space for expanding transnational capital

in Regions and Cohesion
Author:
Juan Manuel Sandoval Palacios National Institute of Anthropology and History, México jsandoval.deas@inah.gob.mx

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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3167/reco.2017.070107
Keywords:
Global Space; Gun Belt; militarization; military-industrial complex; NAFTA; securitization; transnational accumulation
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Abstract

At the beginning of the 1980s, a new Global Space for the expansion of transnational capital emerged in the US–México border states. The militarization and securitization of that border were justified by government policies aimed at stopping irregular immigration, drug traffic, and terrorism. In 1991 the US Congress approved the creation of a new Defense Industrial and Technology Base (DITB), which would benefit the Gun Belt linked to the military-industrial complex, and in 1992 the Department of Defense (DoD) proposed to establish a Defense Reserve Industrial Base Program (DRIB), the location for which would be within the existing production-sharing centers along the US–México border. Both, the DITB and the DRIB, would take advantage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and transnational corporations established or expanded their facilities in the Global Space that has been created along the México–US border. This article examines this process.

Contributor Notes

JUAN MANUEL SANDOVAL PALACIOS is a full-time researcher at the Department of Ethnology and Social Anthropology of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (DEAS-INAH), México.

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Regions and Cohesion

Regiones y Cohesión / Régions et Cohésion

Cover Regions and Cohesion
Article Category:
Research Article
Page Count:
35
Keywords:
Global Space; Gun Belt; militarization; military-industrial complex; NAFTA; securitization; transnational accumulation
Print Publication Date:
01 Mar 2017
Online Publication Date:
01 Mar 2017
Copyright:
© Regions & Cohesion 2017

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